iFi iDefender+ External USB Audio Ground Loop Eliminator (Type A - A)

When I moved house and setup up my guitar and synth bits in the new place, I was treated to the most horrendous ground hum, staticy, zuzzing noise through the monitor speakers from the USB audio interface attached to my desktop DAW system. I never had this problem at the old place aside from a very small hum which a small Behringer Hum Destroyer/Suppressor fixed. This little iDefender fella removed most of the noise, leaving only a very faint electrical connection sound in the distance if you put your ear to the speaker and which you'd easily forget about when audio was coming through. So, it did the job it was supposed to do but it is quite expensive at £60. The reason I say "check you really need it" is because I did little more investigation and found a better and cheaper solution for my setup. As I had never had a real problem before, my Steinberg audio interface had always been connected to the Mackie monitors via mono 1/4" cables. Apparently, these are called Unbalanced. The Steinberg and the Mackies both support TRS (stereo) cables otherwise known as Balanced. No idea what all that means but professional stuff all generally supports Balanced. I bought a pair of TRS audio cables from Amazon (RUXELY 6.35mm TRS Instrument Cable) for a grand total of £12 and voilà. ALL the noise vanished. Nothing evident even with your ear up against the speaker. Didn't even need the Behringer. Problem solved. iDefender not required. iDefender returned. Balanced is clearly the way to go and I probably should have known this but I'd never had this problem before in the previous 15 years with all sorts of kit and different interfaces. Balanced TRS cables on everything from now on. That said, if that doesn't do it in your situation then the iDefender will likely get the job done.

Ok...so just a heads up - I hate having to do this but the reason I'm giving this device 1 star is simply down to the fact that it didn't work for ME; that's not to say that it doesn't do what is advertised or it won't work for YOU - simply that it didn't deliver in my particular case. To clarify; I've just put together a new self-build computer and when I hooked up my audio interface I was getting a lot of noise from my speakers. Also tried an old interface and the problem persisted. The same noise wasn't present though using my old laptop with the same set-up. Upon researching the problem (graphics card related I'm starting to think) I came across the iFi products and thought I'd try the Defender+. It didn't help the problem and if anything actually increased the amount of noise present. If I can't find a solution then I may try one of the other iFi products but whether they are even relevant to this particular problem I don't really know.

This is an excellent piece of tech that does exactly what it says, eliminates ground loop issues. It totally worked for me and I would highly recommend it. Before buying this item you must establish if you actually have a ground loop issue. I had a noise coming through my studio monitors which sounded like I could hear the computer working if that makes sense, I could even hear a sound when I moved the mouse. After watching a few videos on the internet (recommended) and trying a few remedies, I opted to purchase the iDefender and was so glad I did as it resolved the issue immediately. Note, this only works on a USB powered audio interface and the item also requires a separate 5V/2A power supply. It’s a bit particular about which power supply it needs, so choose one with a barrel end connection and an in-line noise reduction magnet. There’s a short barrel to usb C adapter in the box. You must power the iDefender otherwise it won’t work. I bought this power supply from Amazon and it worked perfectly. https://amzn.eu/d/j0qptp9 Not cheap but highly effective, and highly recommended. Just do your research and get the correct power supply.

It's hard to write a review for this product as I have found that I bought it for an issue it doesn't help with. I play guitar using my computer and vst software instead of an amp and have recently been noticing background noise as I play. It's nothing a noise gate can't remove when I'm not playing anything but if I allow a note/chord to sustain the noise would gradually become more audible as the guitar quietened. I tried a lot to try and remove this, I bought a power conditioner, a powered usb hub to connect the soundcard to, I moved the computer into a cabinet and routed holes for cables but I couldn't get rid the noise. This ifi device was the last thing I tried and sadly it didn't work for me but this is no fault of the unit itself, I have worked out that the noise is rfi/emf coming from the computer and being picked up by my guitar and then, as I use distortion(I mostly play punk/heavy rock so I use quite a lot of gain) the noise is then amplified, it's not an issue without distortion. I even tried switching to using the pedals in the vst software rather than my own, real, pedals but this didn't help much. To be honest I haven't noticed any difference in sound when I've had music playing but I'm only hearing it from YouTube so I wouldn't expect there to be a quality improvement there. All in all, the device certainly works to an extent, it powers my soundcard(a Focusrite scarlet solo gen 1) and sound/data passes through it but I'm no audiophile, I'm not using it with a dac and I have no intention to. I would certainly recommend trying it if you feel you need this type of device as it may improve your audio quality if you use it as intended, unlike I have

Después de fabricar cables, buscar soluciones por internet sin éxito encontré este el dispositivo. La única solución después de años de búsqueda para el dichoso ruido ha salido la solución. Eso sí, debes comprar también el adaptador de corriente que vende la misma empresa, si no lo compras y lo pones no sirve de nada, pero ambos son la solución perfecta. En mi caso lo he puesto en el hub donde tengo todos los sintetizadores conectados por USB para la transferencia de datos midi entre los sintetizadores y mi Daw. Mano de santo estos Dos dispositivos en su conjunto siempre. Dejaros de cortar cables de corriente en los cables midi, las tomas de tierra, ni cables en Y fabricados ni por uno mismo ni comprados, ya lo he probado "todo" y por fin encontré la solución al problema que tenía y por supuesto no es una broma el problema, es un gran problema porque al componer y grabar tener el maldito ruido no es poca cosa.

Ich nutze Yamaha HS7 als PC Lautsprecher. Fürs Zocken, Filme schauen und so weiter. Also keine studiotechnischen Anwendungen. Angeschlossen sind diese an einem Audio Interface, dem Steinberg UR22C. Das Ergebnis ist wirklich gut, kein Rauschen, Summen etc. WICHTIG! - Unbedingt ein passendes Netzteil [5V/2,5A] verwenden. - WICHTIG! Hatte den iFi iDefender+ per USB-C auf USB-A Kabel direkt an der Stromleiste angeschlossen oder wahlweise mit einem anderen Netzteil (Amazon Alexa-Echo-Dot Netzteil, Samsung Charger). Es muss nach meiner Erfahrung nicht das iFi iPower2 sein. Habe ein Netzteil [5V/2,5A] für 15€ inkl. Kabel beim Elektrofachhandel gekauft und das Ergebnis ist nochmal besser als zuvor. Das Behringer MicroHD HD400 wird nun NICHT mehr mit genutzt. ///Alte Bewertung: Allerdings gab es je nach Anwendung - Knistern / Rauschen bei Mausbewegungen - Knistern / Summen bei Downloads - Knistern / Summen / Rauschen bei Arbeit in grafikintensiver Software / oder Videogames Einmal den kompletten Raum auf den Kopf gestellt und versucht die "Störquelle" zu finden. Neue Kabel, alles. Bis ich den iFi iDefender+ (Typ A bis A) bestellt und angeschlossen habe. Knistern und Rauschen sind deutlich besser geworden, jedoch nicht zu 100% verschwunden. Daher hatte ich lange überlegt die dazugehörigen Netzteile zum iFi iDefender+ dazu zu bestellen. Bei der Recherche bin ich jedoch auf das Behringer MicroHD HD400 aufmerksam geworden. Die Störgeräusche sind nun völlig auf 0. Meine Empfehlung liegt daher ganz klar erst das Behringer MicroHD HD400 zu testen da es deutlich preiswerter ist und passiv eine deutliche Verbesserung bewirkt. Sollte das nicht ausreichen, kann immer noch mit einem iFi iDefender+ nachgeholfen werden. Erdungsschleife hin oder her, das Rauschen auf den Lautsprechern/USB Interface ist nun Geschichte!///

Ayant récemment remplacé tout mon materiel de MAO (Tour PC, carte son...) par du tout frais, je me suis heurté aux problèmes que beaucoup rencontrent: buzz, interférences... une horreur quoi. J'ai tout tenté (utilisation de jacks symétriques, placements des cables audio par rapport aux alimentations.....) sans succès... J'ai identifié une boucle de masse générée par mon préampli guitare externe connecté sur ma carte son, et dont l'alim est sur le même réseau électrique que le reste de mon materiel, mais buzz et interférences étaient toujours bien présents. Je n'avais jamais rencontré ces soucis avec ma config précédente, que j'utilisais depuis plus de quinze ans. Après pas mal de recherches, je me suis décidé à tenter cet isolateur USB car tout me menait vers cette option... Et bien gagné !!!!!! Plus le moindre souffle, pas de buzz, pas une interférence, le silence absolu !!! Certes, ce petit isolateur est assez couteux, mais franchement impossible de s'en passer lorsque on rencontre ces problèmes. Ma config est la suivante: - tour PC type "Gamer" bien puissante, mais naturellement source d'interférences pour de la MAO (ventilateurs, carte graphique, wifi...) - Interface audio Steinberg UR242 (du coup pluggée sur l'isolateur en entrée usb du PC) - Processeur externe guitare Avid Eleven Rack - Plug-in guitare Bias FX2 de chez Positive Grid sur PC - routage de la carte son et du processeur guitare via une petite mixette analogique Behringer (de manière à pouvoir utiliser l'eleven rack pour jouer sans avoir à allumer le PC) - Enceintes de monitoring Samson Resolv 40A en sortie de la console - Cubase 11 pour l'enregistrement - Clavier Nektar Panorama T4 pour le pilotage de Cubase et le jeu sur des instruments virtuels Tout ce petit monde cohabite maintenant dans la paix et l'harmonie :-) Précision importante: l'isolateur doit être impérativement alimenté (même si la carte son à elle aussi sa propre alimentation électrique) via son connecteur USB C (perso j'utilise mon chargeur de téléphone, peut être en achèterais-je un dédié...) Je souhaite que ce petit isolateur fonctionne bien dans la durée parce qu'il reste quand même assez cher... J'ajusterais mon commentaire si je constate quoi que ce soit qui cloche. J'espère que mon avis pourra aider ! et... mort aux buzz !!!!!

Its do nothing

Studio monitors picked up sound from GPU. This fix worked for me.